“I am staying in this race until there is a nominee. I believe I’m the strongest candidate against John McCain and believe I will be the best president among the three of us running,”-Sen. Hillary Clinton

By all rational accounts, May 7th should have been the end of the Hillary “Point to One Person Wave and Smile” for President Campaign.

In a perfect world, Clinton would have gracefully and graciously conceded to her opponent Senator Barack Obama, thanked her supporters while steering them towards barackobama.com, apologized to all of the people she and her husband offended along the way, and prepared to do her part to make sure that the Democratic Party beat Sen. John McCain in November. And then I woke up.

Clinton is just determined to be “The Little Engine that Could.”

Instead of the Democratic Party beginning the healing the process so that we can move forward to November, making sure that President Bush doesn’t see a third term via McCain, we’ve got to waste even more time on party in-fights.

Add to that, that faced with the reality that the HRC for President campaign is about to removed from life support, some of her supporters have gone ballistic vowing that if Hillary doesn’t get the nomination they’re either going to skip the polls in November or even worse—vote for McCain.

Let me be clear.

Obama is my candidate and believe it or not, he has said and done some things that have upset me, like disavowing Rev. Dr. Wright Jeremiah Wright, but never once did I consider skipping the election or supporting the enemy. Was I disappointed-yes. A bit pissed off-you betcha. But, crazy enough to vote for McCain-hell no!

Look-the Clinton campaign could very well strong arm their way into getting the Florida and Michigan delegates counted in their favor and into the Democratic Convention where in a “backroom” her most loyal supporters could take it to the mat and duke it out resulting in her coming out as the nominee. As mad I would be, it wouldn’t provoke me to put aside common sense, cross the aisle, and put the nail in the coffin on any chance of turning around this economy, getting out of Iraq, and improving the lives of those living in poverty.

In my opinion, the only thing that Clinton and McCain have in common is their race. So I hope that race isn’t the reason for the threats of insanity from loyal Clinton supporters. If you’re a Dem, you’re a Dem, and so whomever gets the nomination is who we fall in line behind to support. It’s called the bigger picture or for me, the lesser of two evils.

As a Black female, I can attest to the excitement at having the first Black or female President. But it is time for Clinton to quit the theatrics and put the Party first by exiting stage left.

Clinton’s superdelegates need to get in line too. Obama has more pledged delegates, states won and the popular vote. The will of the people shouldn’t be tampered with. 2010 isn’t that far off and we’re making a list and checking it twice.

The bottom line is that Clinton has overstayed her welcome and should be using her experience as a leader to aide in reconciliation of the Party before November. That would be the Democratic thing to do.

Jasmyne Cannick n is a critic and commentator based in Los Angeles who writes about the worlds of pop culture, race, class, sexuality, and politics as it relates to the African-American community. A regular contributor to NPR’s ‘News and Notes,’ she was chosen as one Essence Magazine’s 25 Women Shaping the World. She can be reached at www.jasmynecannick.com or www.myspace.com/jasmynecannick.